An office-based financial analyst. A work-from-home customer service agent. An in-store retail associate. Which of these employees is allowed to be bad at their job?
None of them, of course.
Everyone — regardless of role, location, status or tenure — is expected to do a good job. At least, that’s what most managers are likely to say when asked this question. And, since they’re all expected to perform at their best every day, they should expect to receive the same level of support, right? Well…
- The financial analyst collaborates with peers during in-person meetings and regularly schedules time to attend training sessions and complete online courses in the company LXP.
- The customer service agent relies on Microsoft Teams and Zoom meetings for timely updates and must get approval from their manager to attend any training because it would impact call handling volume.
- The retail associate had two days of introductory training when they got hired. Now, they rely on their experienced peers to figure things out, especially since they’re not allowed to do any training off the clock and their manager is rarely available to provide coaching.
These hypothetical employees work for the same company. They’re all held accountable for their performance. But they receive wildly different levels of support as they try to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. This particular company may not really exist, but this kind of workplace inequity plays out constantly within organizations of all sizes around the world. Consider your own organization. Does every employee truly have an equitable opportunity to do their best work every day?
There are now two unemployed people for every three open positions in the U.S. It doesn’t matter what you call this situation: the Great Resignation, the Great Reshuffle, the Great Reset. Companies can no longer rely on their ability to hire the talent they need. Instead, chief learning officers must collaborate across the workplace to reshape their learning ecosystems and accelerate internal skill development. However, if you want to close skill gaps by taking full advantage of your employees’ talents, you must first address a long-standing problem: Workplace learning is unfair.
There’s a problem with proximity
Does limited facetime negatively impact opportunity? This question is top of mind for executives and employees alike as more companies adopt hybrid work models. A 2015 study conducted by researchers from the Stanford Graduate School of Business found that employees who worked from home were 13 percent more productive than those who worked in the office. Unfortunately, they were also promoted at half the rate of their HQ-based counterparts. Today, 41 percent of executives cite inequities between office-based and remote workers as their biggest workplace concern.
Here’s the thing: Proximity bias isn’t a new problem. It just didn’t apply to most “knowledge workers” before the pandemic. Inequity within the employee experience has long existed between different employee groups. According to The State of the Frontline Work Experience in 2021, 84.4 percent of office-based employees agree that they have the training, tools and resources needed to do their best work as compared to 73.6 percent of remote workers and 68.8 percent of store-based associates.
Location is just one factor to consider when it comes to workplace equity. The same report showed that 71.3 percent of full-time employees feel well-informed about job changes as compared to 54 percent of part-time workers. On the surface, that makes sense. If a person only works a few days per week, they’re more likely to fall behind and miss timely updates. On the other hand, customers don’t care if an employee is full-time or part-time. They work here and therefore should have the knowledge needed to provide the level of service expected/demanded.
Ignoring workplace inequity does more than cause employees to miss the latest update. It reduces trust. For example, 76.6 percent of employees who work in organizations with less than 5,000 employees trust their manager to make decisions with their wellbeing in mind. This number drops to 55.8 percent in companies with more than 10,000 workers, meaning people have weaker connections to management, other functions and broad organizational strategy. When people don’t trust their employer, they’re more likely to look elsewhere. Retention suffers. Knowledge is lost. Skill gaps emerge.
Everyone is a knowledge worker
Inequity is further echoed in workplace language. Terms used to describe different employee groups influence how they are both perceived, prioritized and supported. People are labeled as “white collar” or “blue collar” — “knowledge workers” or “unskilled labor” — “desked” or “deskless.” One group is deemed worthy of development and opportunity while another is considered replaceable because, “they always have high turnover anyway.” For a job to become a potential career, there must be a path forward regardless of one’s current role.
If companies have learned anything over the past two years, it’s that every employee plays a critical role in strategic execution. Decisions may be made at HQ, but everyone is responsible for bringing these concepts to life. This is why staffing shortages shut down operations, poor preparation inhibits execution and lack of opportunity results in increased turnover.
There’s no such thing as “unskilled labor.” It doesn’t matter if someone is a data scientist or a restaurant server or a warehouse safety manager. Every employee must have the knowledge and skill to do their jobs effectively. Therefore, CLOs must champion equitable learning and support opportunities for everyone while learning and development paves the path forward and helps employees solve today’s biggest problems while building the skills that will help them be successful tomorrow.
Let’s get everyone the right size bike
Have you ever taught a child how to ride a bicycle? There are plenty of important skills to learn, such as how to balance, stop, turn, etc. But before they can even get started learning, they need the right size bike. If you give a child an adult bike, they’re going to struggle to reach the pedals, yet alone ride effectively. If you give an adult who’s a first-timer a kid’s bike, they’re not going to get very far either.
Equity means designing experiences that fit people’s individual needs. L&D must avoid the temptation to apply one-size-fits-all tactics with groups who do their jobs very differently. It may be easier to record a classroom session so remote workers can watch it later, but it’s not an equitable experience for the employees who do not have the opportunity to engage with peers or ask questions of the instructor. Before creating a hybrid training strategy or making decisions on learning technology, L&D must understand the realities of the people they support. After all, knowledge and skill requirements are based on what you do, but how you learn is influenced by how you work. Rather than defining people by job title, status or location, L&D must develop personas that align learning with work. This includes considerations such as:
- The kinds of work employees do.
- The locations where work is done.
- How employees spend their time on the job.
- How they access information and training.
- How their performance is measured.
Using personas as the basis of workplace learning strategy will enable L&D to provide every employee with the right size bike. It will accelerate skill development opportunities by fitting them seamlessly within the day-to-day workflow. In a workplace where skill is the foundational currency, this approach is essential to make learning an essential part of everyone’s job.
A financial analyst. A customer service agent. A retail associate. They may do different jobs, but each has the potential to make a big impact on business results. Unfortunately, they may not reach that potential if they’re not provided with the development opportunities they need (and deserve) to do their best work. It’s up to L&D to evolve the organization’s mindset, tools and practices so that every employee receives right-fit learning and support no matter what.
